This Day in History

 In 1824, the United States and Russia signed a treaty opening the North Pacific to American fishing and trading vessels.

 In 1948, the Rev. Francis Gleeson was consecrated as Bishop of the Vicarate of Alaska.

 In 1969, a resolution in the Alaska Senate asking U.S. Congress to declare Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a day of mourning failed by a 10-9 vote.

In the nation

 In 1614, American Indian princess Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.

 In 1621, the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, Mass., on a return trip to England.

 In 1792, George Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states.

 In 1887, in Tuscumbia, Ala., teacher Anne Sullivan taught her blind and deaf pupil, Helen Keller, the word "water" as spelled out in the Manual Alphabet.

 In 1987, Fox Broadcasting Co. made its prime time TV debut by airing the premiere episodes of "Married ... With Children" and "The Tracey Ullman Show" three times each.

 In 2006, Duke University's lacrosse coach resigned and the school canceled the rest of the season amid a burgeoning scandal involving allegations that three players on the highly ranked team had raped a stripper at an off-campus party. (The rape charges were later dropped, but the players still face allegations of sexual offense and kidnapping; all maintain their innocence.) Katie Couric announced she was leaving NBC's "Today" show to become anchor of "The CBS Evening News."

In the world

 In 1887, British historian Lord Acton wrote, "All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

 In 1895, Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who'd accused the writer of homosexual practices.

 In 1986, an American soldier and a Turkish woman were killed in the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque, an incident which prompted the U.S. air raid on Libya more than a week later.

 In 2002, U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni met with Yasser Arafat at the Palestinian leader's besieged West Bank headquarters on the bloodiest day of fighting since the beginning of Israel's week-old military offensive. The coffin of The Queen Mother Elizabeth was carried through the heart of London on a gun carriage as Britain honored the woman whose life spanned a tumultuous century of upheaval and change.